


fowl play

by brandflakeeee



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, rated for one use of the f word, this is a silly fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandflakeeee/pseuds/brandflakeeee
Summary: it's canon in greek mythology that hades and persephone kept chickens. the minute i found this out? this ensued. also dedicated to my amazing friend haley. i'm super late in posting this i'm so sorry.





	fowl play

**Author's Note:**

> it's canon in greek mythology that hades and persephone kept chickens. the minute i found this out? this ensued. also dedicated to my amazing friend haley. i'm super late in posting this i'm so sorry.

Hades felt on edge. 

Even more so because he wasn’t sure  _ why _ . 

Persephone had returned for the winter, which was a joy in and of itself. Especially since their newfound promises to each other were strengthening. They’d had time on the train ride down to talk, and had agreed to leave everything in that luggage rack to start again when they stepped off into Hadestown. It had helped somewhat that in her absence he’d removed a good portion of the factories and foundries and it was slowly starting to resemble a proper city again. He felt young again for the first time in ages, and while he had never truly fallen out of love with his wife he found himself falling harder still as they relearned how to communicate, how to function without biting barbs and smart remarks. 

Still, there was something almost tangible in the air that set his teeth to gnashing from the moment he’d dressed. 

His beautiful wife had already headed off for the day with an early morning whisper about something or another that he couldn’t remember even if he tried. For a moment he thought perhaps something had happened, but no - he would certainly know it if harm came to her. His entire world lie in her existence, and he would  _ know _ . 

There were no answers to whatever tension seemed to linger as he dressed or began to make his rounds about the factory and mine shaft that still remained. The workers still felt uneasy in his presence but were growing warmer the harder he tried, and the less he worked them into the ground. It was a fragile balance trying to restore things without letting chaos reign, but after nearly having a riot on his hands at the voice of the poet and the songbird, he had learned. Those were thoughts for another day, perhaps. 

Satisfied things were in order - they rarely  _ weren’t _ \- he climbed the steps to his office. His old bones groaned at the effort. Gods above and below he was getting too old. He’d spent too long fighting and being a fool, as Persephone had put it so kindly. He’d fought too long in the war of his youth to be rehashing that same path now. 

Hades was a man of few means. He didn’t  _ need _ the luxury his brothers flaunted themselves with up on the mountain. Most of his expenses had been for Persephone in the first years of their marriage and again when the cracks had begun to fissure up. It had taken him a while to realise she hadn’t wanted any of it either, but now they both were stuck with it because it was too expensive  _ not _ to enjoy. But you gave Hades a quiet place and a book or a newspaper and he was content. He’d placed his office to maximize that quietness while still being able to sit at a great height over his workers. His office was a quiet sanctuary that both he and Persephone had both found solace in over the years during their work days. 

As he neared his office door, however, the tension seemed to double like a coil in his gut. His hand rested on the knob; something was off. If a shade had been in his office without permission or had caused chaos he’d rain hellfire on the person responsible. No one was allowed entry without his presence, a steadfast rule that every worker obeyed. 

He twisted the knob with ire, practically throwing open the door in his effort to get inside to ream into what intruder lie beyond.

All that meets him is  _ regret _ .

And chickens. 

A dozen of them, dark feathered and beady little eyes that are focused on anything but him. He could only stare as they strut about his office without a single care, scattering papers and defecting on any surface that suited them. Clucking and fussing about as hens and roosters did, they seemed entirely unbothered by his sudden entrance. Vaguely he wondered if he was hallucinating, perhaps something had been slipped into his coffee - but no, they were quite tangible and real and  _ loud. _ No one else inside, just the veritable flock that he knew belonged in the gardens.

They kept chickens, he and Persephone. He can’t even remember  _ why _ at this point, but they’ve always been there. And now they’re here. In his office. Ruining everything. 

Hades inhaled deeply, scowling at the bird in his desk chair to get it to move. In the end he had to pick it up and set it physically aside to regain his seat, which was miraculously not ruined. 

He was met face to face with a hen, who stared at him with those dark tiny eyes and a tilt of her head.

“This means war.” He rumbled darkly, but the hen only stared. Uncaring. Unbothered. “Kindly remove yourself from my desk.”

Even without a note or any indication of the  _ sender _ of this particular gift, he  _ knew _ . No one else would dare pull such a stunt other than his wife, who had left in a strange mood that morning. He drummed his fingers along the desk while the hen still made no immediate move to go away, merely continued to peck along the surface in search of non-existent grain. 

\----

“Good day?” Persephone asked politely as she sauntered into her lover’s office some hours later. She’d been fully expecting a meltdown or at least a minor chaos, given her little joke, but nothing looked out of place. Not a single hair. She did nothing to betray her slight disappointment. Hades lifted his head from his ledgers and offered her his usual small smile. 

“Good enough. Less vibrant without your company.” He murmured as she crossed to perch on the arm of his chair. “Better, now.”

“Glad I could help.” She mused, dipping her head to kiss him. “I need a bath, though. Been down to the mines and digging in the garden. Dinner after?”

“As always.”

She took her leave after another lingering kiss, huffing as she headed toward their estate. Clearly her attempts at  _ ruffling his feathers _ had not gone as she’d hoped. It seemed odd he hadn’t mentioned it. She shoved it to the back of her mind to deal with after a hot bath to scrub the dirt and grime from her skin. 

Dropping her bag near the door to their room, she stripped away her coat and tossed it in the vague general direction of their bed in her cross to the wash room. Her other clothes followed into the same pile to be laundered (eventually). How long would she be able to soak before Hades inevitably came looking for her thinking she’d drowned?

Humming, she opened the washroom door and screeched. 

A dozen black chickens, happy as clams strutting about the tiled floor and three of them in an already filled tub. 

  
“Oh, for fuck’s sake -  _ Hades _ !”


End file.
